AI doesn't just pick potatoes, it also grew a winter oolong tea champion
Minghsin University of Science and Technology in Hsinchu County used AI artificial intelligence technology to guide tea farmers in improving the tea growing environment and the production and roasting process. Unexpectedly, the results exceeded all expectations, and it unexpectedly won the top prize in this year's oolong tea evaluation held by the Lugu Farmers' Association in Nantou. It showed people that computers not only "can pick potatoes, but can also grow tea leaves," and there are plans to further promote the technology in the future.
The AI tea-growing project was begun by Lin Wentsan, dean of Minghsin University of Science and Technology's College of Artificial Intelligence, when he was working at National Taichung University of Science and Technology. He led a group of master's students to Lugu Township in Nantou County to cooperate with local tea farmers over the long term, using AI technology to monitor the growing environment of winter tea and the moisture and nutrients of tea trees during the growing period, so as to create the most suitable growing environment.
Lin Wentsan explained that weather is one of the key factors affecting the growth of tea trees, so they use instruments to automatically collect weather conditions in the tea garden, then rely on AI for back-end big data analysis to control the conditions during the tea growth process. The tea naturally cultivated in this way is of course fragrant and delicious, and it also won unanimous praise from the tea farmers.
President Zeng Xinchao said that AI artificial intelligence technology can be applied not only to the currently hottest future engineering or electric vehicle development and manufacturing, but even food and beverage can also introduce AI technology. From the top-prize oolong tea grown with AI, it can likewise be applied to traditional agriculture or the biotechnology industry. In the future, it will be further promoted, and guidance will even be provided for Hsinchu's local Oriental Beauty tea, so that AI artificial intelligence champion tea can also be grown.